Cryptocurrency Exchange Gemini Adds Support for ZCash
Yesterday, on Tuesday, May 14, the cryptocurrency-focused Consensus kicked off in style as popular cryptocurrency exchange ‘Gemini’ announced adding privacy-focused cryptocurrency ZCash to its platform.
The Gemini cryptocurrency exchange that is owned by Bitcoin bitcoin-billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss is certified and directly supervised by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). This makes Gemini as the most regulated crypto exchange in the world with the highest compliance of regulations like know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
During an interview with Bloomberg, Cameron Winklevoss said that the privacy-based digital token ZCash has struggled to gain good market valuations due to concerns from the investors about the regulatory cloud hovering over it.
He said: “Part of the reason a coin like Zcash has a smaller market cap is because people are not sure if regulators will ever get comfortable with this type of technology. Today demonstrates that through education and collaboration and with the right controls in place, regulators can get comfortable with privacy technology.”
On the other hand, the exchange seems to be optimistic about the privacy features of ZCash. It states: “The Zcash protocol’s cutting edge use of zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (“zk-SNARKS” or “zero-knowledge proofs”) makes it a truly innovative privacy coin that offers confidentiality for peer-to-peer transactions.”
The official press release on the ZCash website said that the digital currency has gone through a proper vetting process by the NYDFS wherein it has to submit a detailed action plan of Gemini to deal with risks associated with the digital token.
The company states. “We at the Zcash Company believe that privacy and confidentiality are part of the foundation of an open and democratic society. Privacy supports societal values such as human rights, political freedom, financial inclusion, and economic opportunity. These are values that we share with the regulators of countries like USA and states like New York.”
Gemini has also provided details about its plans of using shielded addresses. The exchange said: “At launch, Gemini will support deposits from unshielded or shielded addresses, but will only support withdrawals to unshielded addresses. We are working to support withdrawals to shielded addresses in the future.”
Soon after the news broke out on Tuesday, the price of digital currency shot by more than $100, from $250 to $350 in just an hour’s time.